dearness

From dear + -ness.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɪə(ɹ)nəs/

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dearness (usually uncountable, plural dearnesses)

1. The quality of having great value or price.
   • 1657, Jeremy Taylor, Discourse of the Nature, Offices and Measures of Friendship:

     But brothers pass not into noble friendships upon the stock of that relation: they have fair dispositions and advantages, and are more easy and ready to ferment into the greatest dearnesses, if all things else be answerable.

   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     Customers in Padgett Street did not generally, one might infer, express approval on the score of dearness.

• costliness

• Andreses, arse ends, serendas